Politics

Government Shutdown: No End in Sight

(NEWSER) – It's Day 2 of the government shutdown and it's starting to look like this could go on for a while. In contrast to other budget showdowns of recent years, there have been no serious negotiations between President Obama and John Boehner—and no sign that Joe Biden and Mitch McConnell will come in from the sidelines with a deal to get the government running, the Washington Postreports. Instead, the GOP is left to deal with Harry Reid, who has made it clear he is unwilling to budge.

House Republicans moved to pass bills funding the government one agency at a time, but that strategy was shot down by Democratic opposition, and the White House promised to veto any bill that didn't resolve the whole shutdown. "These piecemeal efforts are not serious, and they are no way to run a government," a spokeswoman said. "If House Republicans are legitimately concerned about the impacts of a shutdown ... they should do their job and pass a clean CR to reopen the government."